Walk the loop at Butts Hill Fort off Sprague Street and you'll find the outline of a Revolutionary War fort: grassy ramparts, ditches you can trace by eye, and a level path to the Southern Battery Green. Keep going north and the paths fade into brush. Both views belong to the same fort.
The Butts Hill Fort Restoration Committee divides the fort into 14 earthwork segments. Seven are cleared, seeded and in daily use. The other seven, on the northern side, are the oldest part of the fort and still have to be cleared. The volunteer morning on Saturday, October 31, sits right between those two halves. It is the same late-October clearing that closed out the heavy work on the south side two years ago, and it now leads into a fundraising push for the north.
Fourteen Segments, Seven Finished
The split dates to the committee's 2024 campaign. To get bids from contractors, the committee mapped the whole fort into 14 numbered work segments, since not every section was in the same shape. Segments 1 through 7, the southern half, became Phase I. Segments 8 through 14, the northern half, became Phase II.
Clearing the south side needed approvals at several levels. The committee went over plans with Portsmouth's tree commissioner, tree warden and public works leadership. Then it walked the fort with Eric Whipple of Whippletree to decide what would happen to roughly 200 trees in the southern half. The best ones were kept, and only trees that were damaging the earthworks, dead or extra were removed. The Town Administrator and Town Council approved the plan, and so did the head of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission.
Work began in July 2024. Whippletree crews worked in scheduled blocks, with committee volunteers alongside them. In early November, Brettscape of Westport, Massachusetts, spent two days hydroseeding the cleared ground, with extra seed on the earthworks. In its 2024 year-in-review, the Battle of Rhode Island Association described the result:
"The full contours of the fort's triple-pointed Southern face and defensive ditches on all sides are now clearly visible for the first time in over 50 years."
In 2025 the job shifted to keeping what had been gained. In the committee's 2025 annual report, Chair Paul Murphy calls the southern half "in use daily as an easily walkable, pathway-connected piece of Portsmouth's Butts Hill neighborhood." Volunteers work on it weekly, together with the Department of Public Works. That work means keeping the protective grasses healthy where invasive plants used to grow, caring for dozens of shade "keeper trees," and maintaining both the Southern Battery Green and the Fort Green between Dyer, Earle and Butts Streets.
The Last Week of October Has Done This Before
The October 31 date has history. In 2024, the heavy work on the southern earthworks wrapped up in late October with a large public clearing held in memory of Col. Burton C. Quist, USMC, and co-hosted with the Daughters of the American Revolution. Twenty-four volunteers came out for the final push. Hydroseeding in early November completed Phase I.
This year's workday is the third annual Col. Burton C. Quist USMC Commemorative Clearing. It honors the man the committee calls its "Founding Father." All U.S. Marines are invited to join "the volunteer brush fight" to mark America's 250th and the Corps' 251st birthday in November. The town's announcement says volunteers will clear ramparts and trenches before winter. That is the upkeep that keeps the 2024 work from growing back over.
The event listing on EastBayRI adds what the morning is for in the bigger picture: the committee's "Re-take the Hill" campaign, whose goal is "to raise enough funds to work on the Northern Ramparts which is the oldest part of the fort." The association's September 2026 newsletter, published October 1, repeats that goal, so the fundraising for the northern ramparts was still underway as fall began.
What the Northern Half Is Holding
The northern ramparts matter partly because of what the fort was. British forces built Butts Hill Fort while they occupied Aquidneck Island from 1776 to 1779. French military engineers under Rochambeau greatly expanded it in 1780 and 1781 after French forces arrived in Newport. It is a National Historic Landmark, it served as the main American defensive position in the 1778 Battle of Rhode Island, and about 80 percent of the fortification survives.
Teams have also been looking underground. In the summers of 2024 and 2025, Dr. Alexandra Uhl of Stonehill College and Dr. Hugo Reyes-Centeno of the University of Kentucky led students using LiDAR and ground-penetrating radar. These methods map what lies below without digging. The association says the surveys are helping locate the likely sites of British barracks and other features from both the British and French periods. The van Beuren Charitable Foundation paid for that research, and it also paid for the Phase I clearing. If you'd rather see the fort from your kitchen table first, BoRIA's virtual exhibit lays historical maps over current aerial images and the survey data.
Among the planned interpretive sign locations, the annual report lists the barracks site and the Northern battery as "key features." Several of the stories the committee most wants to tell are tied to the half that is still overgrown.
A 2028 Deadline the Committee Set for Itself
The committee has put a date on finishing. Its goal is to complete both phases before the Battle of Rhode Island's 250th anniversary in 2028. For 2026 it has shifted its priority to raising money for the physical restoration. The planning figure is $100,000, which it calls enough to finish the physical side of Phase II and to help pay for permanent historical signs.
Phase II will copy the Phase I method. A professional tree-removal contractor will work alongside the committee's volunteers. Unwanted trees, invasive plants and debris will be taken off the northern slopes, trenches and paths, and the cleared earthworks will be hydroseeded. The work will go segment by segment and only as far as the money allows. It will start at segment 8 on the west side and move clockwise around the north to segment 14, which meets segment 1 at the main gate and closes the loop. So each dollar raised translates fairly directly into more of the north side cleared.
A few smaller projects are also underway:
- Signs. Lightweight temporary metal tour and navigation signs show where permanent ones are planned. Six interpretive sign locations have been chosen, including a "Battle Overlook" facing south across the valley to Quaker, Turkey and Almy hills. The committee is also working with the American Battlefield Trust on making the fort a possible anchor site for the Trust's "Liberty Trail Rhode Island" initiative.
- Walls and gate. The 100-yard stone wall around the Southern Battery Green was cut out of the brush between 2023 and 2025. The run-down main gate area still needs its own project and funding.
- The Fort Green fence. The committee accepted a local Eagle Scout's proposal to repair the wooden rail fence around the Fort Green in 2026.
The fort has had a busy year as a gathering place, too. On August 29, the committee held its third annual Sunset Salute for the battle's 248th anniversary. Paul Murphy welcomed guests to the site that served as Major General John Sullivan's headquarters in 1778. Reenactors from the 1st Rhode Island Regiment and the 54th Regiment of Foot laid a wreath at the 1922 DAR marker in the fort's southwest corner, and several regiments closed the evening with a musket volley.
Saturday, October 31, Step by Step
The town's announcement covers the details:
- When: Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The rain date is Sunday, November 1. Come anytime during those hours.
- Where to meet: the Fort gate on Butts Street, off Sprague Street. The committee suggests searching "26 Butts Street" for directions to the Main Gate.
- Parking: inside the Fort Parade Field, in the paved Portsmouth High School tennis court lot, or on Dyer Street. Don't park on Butts Street.
- On arrival: every participant signs a town liability form. If you arrive after the start, sign in with a committee team member.
- Bring: work gloves, and dress warmly.
If you're coming from Bristol, the Mount Hope Bridge has alternating lane closures from October 19 through November 6 for dehumidification work. The closures run overnight Monday through Friday and during weekday daytime hours, so a Saturday morning trip falls outside them. The event is free. For anyone who can't make it, the Battle of Rhode Island Association accepts donations through its donation page, or by check payable to "BoRIA" at PO Box 626, Portsmouth, RI 02871.
Eric Kirton is a lifelong Aquidneck Island resident and founder of Treasure Aquidneck Island, and he follows work like the Butts Hill Fort restoration closely. If you'd like to talk about Portsmouth's historic places, the Butts Hill neighborhood, or a property with its own history, Eric Kirton of liladelman.com is glad to talk it through. Request a private consultation.
